Evolution of Library Services

CNIB’s enduring support for literacy and reading reaches back to its historic roots as a library service, the Canadian Free Library for the Blind, which opened its doors to readers in 1907. This critical aspect of CNIB history, chronicled in this exhibit, extends into the present day with developments in services and collections for adults, children, and teens who are blind or partially sighted.

These developments have unfolded nationally and internationally. Canada has seen the transformation of the CNIB Library in parallel with the establishment of a new, public-library-run Canadian organization called the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA). Internationally, the historic signing and ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty in 2016 reduces barriers for creating and sharing alternate format material across international borders.

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It is through touch and sound that literacy comes to life

— Euclid Herie

As CNIB looks forward to its next 100 years, we recall words of former CNIB president, Euclid Herie, who wrote "It is through touch and sound that literacy comes to life. Access to information for people who are blind, partially sighted or deaf-blind has been both a challenge and a source of joy and opportunity." Library services have evolved, and continue to evolve to create more options for readers who depend on touch and sound, putting more reading material into more hands in more ways, striving to create a world where “all may read.”

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Access to information for people who are blind, partially sighted or deaf-blind has been both a challenge and a source of joy and opportunity